HATE THIS - Windows Search "Top Apps" - How do I remove it?

Anonymous
2019-06-16T21:25:43+00:00

Is it possible to remove the "Top Apps" section of Windows Search.

I'm using 

and the what I need removed is

I really hate anything to do with search history and that sort of thing and I really hate seeing this every time I try to do a search.

Please help.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Settings

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Anonymous
2019-08-18T03:39:45+00:00

Just right click on the taskbar, go to Search and click on Hidden.  Then to search all you need to do is to hit the Windows key and type your search.

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Kapil Arya 38,491 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2020-08-03T12:07:42+00:00

Hello,

There is no direct method to disable Top Apps (as of Version 2004), however you can try this workaround to skip Top Apps:

Right click on Taskbar and select Search > Hidden.

Now simply click on Start button or press Windows key and type your search query. This way you can skip Top Apps on the search fly-out you are seeing. 

Hope this helps!

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42 additional answers

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-09-09T14:16:00+00:00

    I replied before,  and MS you are stupid for adding this and this is why. 

    In settings > Start section. 

    Show more tiles on start -  Off 

    Show APP LIST on start -   ON 

    Show Recently Added apps -  OFF 

    Show MOST USED APPS  -  OFF (Greyed out)  ( To me is the same as TOP APPS being used, yet is OFF, there should be no list.) This is the same bull crap that is on HIstory of IE or any other browser. I have everything that you can think of OFF, history and all, yet this Crap 'TOP APPS" shows. 

    Show suggestions occassionally  in Start- OFF

    SHow recent Items in Jumplist,  - OFF. 

    Doesn't this tell you something MS, people don't want to have history tracking or even showing it.   

    SETTINGS >Permissions and History,  Cloud history, device history, etc, is   OFF. 

    Now only that, I disable WEB SEARCH via Tweak for  Cortana(Desktop search).

    I am checking to see if this can be tweaked via Registry  or maybe a file has to be modded.

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-09-13T16:13:33+00:00

    Hi there, 

    There does not currently appear to be any way to remove that unwanted feature, but I believe I found a workaround for the moment. If you click on the search bar, then the settings icon, then "other privacy settings" near the bottom, a screen pops up that allows you to turn off a feature to prevent Windows from tracking app launches ("Let Windows track app launches to improve Start and search results"). From my initial testing it looks like Top Apps no longer updates after that setting it switched off.

    So what I did was repeatedly open several different generic apps (such as Word, Excel, calculator, etc.), until the Top Apps only showed those apps I just opened. Then I switched off that privacy setting. So far the Top Apps feature has not changed from those generic apps. 

    I hope this helps for now.

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-09-13T16:46:42+00:00

    Hi Scott

    That doesn't work for me.  The first "top app" is Simple Mahjong and I've never even launched that app. I can't get it to go away no matter how many apps I open. It stays first on the list. Also, My setting for letting Microsoft track searches was already turned off. Maybe I should turn it on, launch some apps (but not Simple Mahjong) and check it again?  Then turn the tracking off again?

    Barbara

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